Trade
Earlier in the European [period], the Illini furnished Canadians with skins of beaver, raccoon, deer, bear and buffalo, but in 1776 the French (in Illinois) compelled them “to devote themselves to producing oil, tallow and meat which they traded with them.” (Deliette Memoir. See Pease in Bibliography under ILLINI.) The Indians traded for porcupine quills with more northern neighbors. After the European came, Illini trade was probably overwhelmingly with the whites, exchanging native products of the forest for coveted guns, iron knives, hatchets, brass kettles, cloth, glass beads and alcoholic liquors.
Fig. 34. A, B, common forms of Illini pipes (restored) of red Minnesota pipestone, Illinois State Museum collections: A, “Siouan”; B, Micmac; C, [stone] effigy-head type, (A. J. Throop collection). All from village near mouth of Kaskaskia River, Randolph County. (B.B.)
[Religion]
The [religion] of the early historic Illini was apparently a complex one. The sun was evidently a powerful deity from whom the [calumet] pipe had perhaps been supposedly received. A special calumet, apparently sacred to the sun, was revered as a palladium (like the Hebraic Ark of the Covenant) on which rested the safety of the nation. A special official had responsibility for its safe keeping. The smoke of the pipe was offered to the sun whenever the Illini prayed for rain, fine weather, or some other aid. Whether the Grand Manitou (Great Spirit), whom the French thought was the Supreme God of the Illini, was identical with the sun is not known though it seems probable.
In addition to the above gods, the Illini believed in numerous spirits and in reincarnation. A young man sought to secure a spirit as his superhuman helper or guardian for life. He fasted and prayed to the spirit to come to him in a vision. If successful (as he usually was), the spirit appeared to him in a dream and gave him instructions for a ritual by which he kept in contact with his protector. The objects needed for the ritual he collected on awakening and preserved them thereafter in a roll of painted matting. When calling upon his spirit protector, the bundle was opened and the rite performed, chiefly prayers and smoke offerings from a pipe blown toward the bundle.
It seems probable that there were true priests who were appointed by regular procedure and who received their power by virtue of their installation into office. The priests, we are told, painted themselves all over with clay on which designs were drawn. Their faces were painted with red, white, blue, yellow, green and black colors. The “high [priest]” wore a bonnet or crown of feathers and a pair of horns, possibly young deer or buffalo.
Medicine men also seem to have existed, persons who sought power from spirits to use in behalf of others for private gain or a livelihood. Possibly they were interested on the side in black magic or witchcraft, an anti-social activity.
Dancing, probably singing, and supplication, together with the inevitable smoke offerings from a ceremonial pipe doubtless formed a large part of public worship for which the whole community assembled. Details of the Illini ceremonies and their meanings are not known.
The French priests severely denounced native religious customs and “juggleries” of the Illini. The Peoria chiefs and priests resented this and resisted Christian attempts to convert the tribe (1693).
Funeral and burial customs seem to have been generally similar to those of other plant-raising peoples. All dead were treated with respect, decked in their best apparel, painted in preparation for burial. A dance was performed in honor of the deceased. A skin stretched over a large pot formed a drum which was beaten with a single stick as accompaniment for the dance. The participants were rewarded with presents at the conclusion of the dance. The gifts to be distributed were displayed in full view of the dancers and the duration of the dance was determined by their relative richness. An important personage was given special consideration and the whole community probably attended the funeral. Corn and a pot to boil it in were placed beside the dead. Friends standing around the grave threw into it bracelets, pendants and “pieces of earthenware” (pots?). The graves of chiefs were marked by a painted wooden post taller than the markers for ordinary [people]. Illini chiefs and persons of distinction as a signal honor were placed in tree-tops in a coffin made of bark. The tribe danced and sang for twenty-four hours during the funeral of a distinguished man.
Fig. 35. Illini arrowshaft “wrench” or straightener of bison (?) rib engraved with figure of bison and cross-hatched triangles from Illinois village near mouth of Kaskaskia River, Randolph County.
[Art]
Men tattooed their “whole bodies.” They painted themselves in solid colors and with designs in red, black, yellow, blue, and other colors. The body was adorned with native [jewelry], the nose and ears were pierced for ornaments, and feathers of many colors were worn attached to the scalp lock. Moccasins were decorated with porcupine quill embroidery. Men clipped or shaved most of the head, leaving the scalp lock and four other tufts of long hair, two on each side, one in front of and behind each ear. After European trade goods were available, glass beads and cloth were obtainable in considerable quantities and largely replaced native dress materials and ornaments.
The Illini played lacrosse, an athletic game. The straw-and-bean game was a game of chance in which the players each took a number of straws from a bundle. The straws in each hand were discarded by sixes, the number left determining the winner of the round. Beans were used as counters. The Illini made wagers as to the outcome, even putting up their sisters as stakes in the game.
Fig. 36. Shapes of Illini pots (Middle [Mississippi] ware) reconstructed from sherds found in association with other native and European objects on the Illini village site near mouth of Kaskaskia River, Randolph County. (B.B.)
[Archaeology] of the Illini
Two village sites of the Illini have been investigated by the Illinois State Museum, one near Utica, LaSalle County (jointly with the University of Chicago) and one in Randolph County near the mouth of the Kaskaskia River. This last site was occupied for over a century by descendants of the Kaskaskias and other Illini tribes. Except for a small area where [Archaic] [artifacts] are found, it is a “pure” site.
The Illini tools, weapons and ornaments of native make were the usual chipped [flint] triangular [arrowheads], simple flint drills and scrapers, [rough stone] hammers and abrading stones, small ground [stone] pendants, polished stone “Micmac” or “keel-based” pipe bowls (many of catlinite), the long-stemmed L-shaped catlinite pipes (sometimes called “Siouan”), and cut and engraved bone ornaments. An arrowshaft straightener carries an etching of a buffalo cow. Pottery is rare, but the pieces found in association with European trade goods are characteristically Middle Mississippian.
Fig. 37. European trade goods and [artifacts] made from European materials. All from Illini village near mouth of Kaskaskia River, Randolph County. A, conical arrowhead of sheet copper; B, chipped glass arrowhead; C, brass arrowhead; D, hammer of flintlock gun; E, iron blade of clasp knife; F, an iron scissor-blade; G, part of a jew’s-harp.
The Illini made [artifacts] from fragments of European materials, iron spear- and [arrowheads], brass and chipped glass arrowheads, brass pendants, and beads of broken porcelain.
European trade materials far exceed in number the native products. Usually they are fragmentary (except for colored glass beads of many kinds): parts of copper and brass kettles, iron handles, gun hammers and other parts, lead balls and the molds for making them, molds for casting crosses and ornaments, iron spoons, kitchen and clasp knife blades of iron, “Dutch” white pottery pipes, scissors, jew’s-harps, bottles for wine and olive oil, brass buttons and finger rings.
The Illini seem to have cast lead into musket balls and chipped gun flints into shape but beyond that made no attempt to learn machine-age technologies. For firearms, gunpowder, iron knives and hatchets they were wholly dependent on the white invaders, a great disadvantage in event of hostilities and one that eventually cost them ownership of their ancient homelands.